The noose around Fortress Maximus' neck tightens. Will the Decepticon 2nd fleet led by mighty Scorponok finally subjugate their old nemesis? And if they do, what will be the fate of the Autobot resistance?

Side Burn nodded as a couple of the Dinobots chimed in on their thoughts about Prowl. As he poured up another round for the four Autobots he nodded in response. “Yup, that sounds like the Prowl I knew. You know I once heard he literally bored a prisoner to death. Guy shorted out his processor’s rather then hear him drone on and one. Not sure if that one’s true or not, but it certainly sounds like it could be right?" He passed the drinks over to each of the Dinobots. “And this round is on me. Nothing better to do around here then buy drinks and swap stories anyway, right?" He flashed them all a smile.

Internally the blue Autobot was getting a bit tired of this. He knew the Dinobots would be a tough nut to crack, but this was like talking to a wall. Certainly there had to be a fantastic story behind their disappearance but he was beginning to wonder if the effort he was putting into finding it out would be worth it in the long run. So far no pretty femmes had come in to pull his attention away from them, but it was probably only a matter of time. Chatting up a femme now versus maybe getting a new pick up line and story out of the Dinobots was really no contest at this point.

*

Security Office

Kick-Off entered the room, instantly spotting Highcall in the middle of meditating or praying or something. He wasn’t exactly the religious type himself. The idea of some greater purpose or higher calling had died a cruel death inside of him while fighting battles for the amusement of Decepticons. Still, he respected the little bot and his beliefs, even if he needed to find a better way of expressing and sharing them.

As he sat down at his desk the security chief received a signal indicating that Warhaul had recovered from his bout of overenergizing. He quickly sent in a reply indicating the Bot was to be released with a fine and standard warning that repeat offenses would result in stricter punishments. He typed up a bit of official documentation to go along with his orders before he finally turned his attention back to Highcall.

The Autobot let out a sigh. “Highcall, you know that as Autobots we all respect your views and everything and you are absolutely free to celebrate them and worship in anyway you want. You do have to respect other Autobots though. They all have a right to sit down, relax and have a drink if they want, even if you disapprove. You have to respect their beliefs as well, not to mention the rules of the station."

Kick-Off sat back in his chair. “Now, if all you had done was annoy some people with your efforts to convert them we would probably be done here. Unfortunately I have witnesses and your own word that you opened fire with your pistol. Now I know you know that was wrong. I’d just like to know why you did it Highcall. Can you explain your actions to me?"

*

Command Hub

Grimlock followed Cosmos through the room, merely offering grunts in reply to his comments. He did observe some of the comings and goings around him. Their theft was definitely going to throw the place into an even greater state of chaos then it already was. With as busy as it was the theft would like result in a full out panic with Bots running into each other. They were too far from the front lines, too relaxed and concerned with minor affairs. Something major like the theft of a warship simply wouldn’t compute for most of them. That shock and confusion would be something they could capitalize on.

The Dinobot turned his attention back to Cosmos as he mentioned the Trion. He expected there might be some complications with getting on board the Trion, it being so powerful and state of the art. He was hoping that the rank he still held, possibly backed by a little bit of intimidation, would at least get him on board the ship. Cosmos’s reassurances reinforced those ideas.

Grimlock paid little attention the receptionist. He had no use for secretarial bots or their duties. This one was merely an obstacle that was in his way. He waited impatiently until Cosmos led them through the doorway.

Countdown's Office

Countdown stood up from his desk as Cosmos led Grimlock into the room. He nodded at Cosmos, offering the minibot a smile. “Cosmos." He then looked up at the massive form of Grimlock. Seeing him in person he seemed even bigger then the official records made him out to be. He had to admit to being a bit intimidated, but he had conducting first contact with all sorts of different species. He knew how to keep up a calm and friendly face. “Commander Grimlock, its an honor and pleasure to meet you. Welcome on board." He extended his hand to shake his.

Grimlock glanced down at the proffered hand in a bit of surprise. Still he stepped forward and clasped it. His massive hand easily wrapped around Countdowns and a good portion of his forearm. He made sure not to squeeze too hard.

Countdown was grateful that the Dinobot shook his hand gently. He was fairly certain he could crush his limb with just the one hand. “I take it Cosmos gave you a satisfactory brief tour of the station. Cosmos, you are dismissed for now. Take some time for yourself, but be prepared for more tours should Grimlock or his team want them. I would ask someone else but I know you are our best ambassador." He offered the minibot a genuine smile. He did appreciate his work and his attitude. If only he had more Bots like him things would run even smoother on the station.

On his perch Stockade waited patiently for the heavy lifter to maneuver down to his location so they could finally have a civilized one on one conversation. The weapons specialist wanted to be sure that the bridge between Grindcore and him was mended before he went back to the opposite side of the shipyard where his men were working.

Stockade made sure to keep a neutral expression on his face as he watched Grindcore make his way over to him. The large mech offered a nod and followed it up with a slight smile.

“No, this isn’t a lecture. I’m gonna leave that up to Erector."

Stockade placed both hand on his hips as he took in the other mech from top to bottom. There was something Erector saw in him that the weapons specialist just couldn’t see. But he was here to put things right. He was hoping that this gesture would help the heavy lifter see that not everyone was out to get him and that maybe, just maybe he had friends to rely on instead of the sauce.

“I wanna let you know that I got no hard feelings toward ya. I know being here for Primus knows how long can wear on a ‘Bot, but you hafta know that we’re all in this together. So, ya ever need to talk….or you just need someone to bullscrap with…then I’m offerin’ myself."

The large mech then extended his hand out and nodded.

“Go on, I ain’t gonna bite."

Energon Bar

Slag let out an annoyed growl he wanted nothing more than to tear into something …or more preferably someone and right now that blue femme crazy ‘Bot was the object of his ire. However, it would seem that his brothers were pressed to keep him at bay…following Grimlock’s orders to the letter was something he could try to do…it didn’t mean that he would be successful at it.

“Just give me another drink and I’ll grant you a stay of execution by Slag."

What could pass for a smirk worked onto the flamethrower’s face but it quickly morphed back into his usual scowl once the drink was passed to him by Side Burn. If the other mech could keep up with Slag’s drink demands then maybe….just maybe…the vanguard would live to see another pretty little femme.

Slag took a long gulp from the mug and slammed the vessel down on the counter as Side Burn began to recite a story pertaining to Prowl and the tactician’s ability to offline a mech with just his words. It seemed to be a ridiculous notion, but since it was Prowl it all seemed very plausible.

Slag raised his mug from the counter and gestured toward Side Burn with the half full container.

“Sounds a lot like the stick-up-the-aft strategist to me. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was sent out on the front lines to recite the entire Autobot Code to the ‘Con army."

The Dinobot downed the remainder of his energon and swiped the back of his hand over his mouth removing any stray droplets.

“If that happens I think we’d see the end of the war…which would not bode well with me."

He ground his teeth as he looked long and hard into the mirror that adorned the back of the bar. No war meant no Decepticons to kill not a fun thought at all. Slag let out a deep growl and grumbled to himself.

“Give me another drink! And make it quick! I got some thoughts to drown out!"

Med Bay

The one patient that had arrived some time ago had slipped into a deep recharge after Pharma had left leaving Ambulon alone and relieved. The CMO had steadily grown more irate with him as time went on. He didn’t know if it was actually due to his sorted past or if his superior was showing the signs of something akin to cabin fever. He wouldn’t be the first one. Perhaps he should consult Rung about the CMO’s spiraling behavior. Perhaps.

Ambulon had just settle down with a well-deserved mug of energon…and a small pile of reports…when the door slid open to reveal the distressed, and not to mention damaged, Skyfall.

“I cannot believe they let those killers walk free in this place! It’s like they have the whole run and no respect for any of the more prestigious inhabitants. I mean I’m a premiere weapons engineer and look at how they treat me!"

Ambulon stood from his chair and raised both hands gesturing for the red mech to slow down.

“Alright Skyfall. Who is it you’re talking about? And what happened?"

Skyfall let out a heavy sigh as he plopped down onto a berth directly across from the mech that had just slipped into recharge.

“Those lumbering excuses for an elite team! Grimlock’s four!"

The doctor made his way over to the distraught engineer and leaned down so he could get a better look at the side of Skyfall’s face and visor. As carefully as he could…with his patient still squirming patient poised before him…Ambulon took to examining the damage.

“Ow! Damn it, doc! Try to be more careful!"

“Sorry, but this would let painful if you held still."

Skyfall took a long hard look at Ambulon before he pulled his head away from the physician.

“Hang on a sec. Where’s Pharma? I thought Pharma was here."

“Pharma…he went for a walk. I’m sure he’ll be back at some point, but for now you have me."

From the red mech a heavy sigh was released. He’d much prefer to be helped by someone he knew he could trust. Ambulon was a good doctor, but there were still so many stories surrounding the former ‘Con.

“You know. I overheard this one mech say that you were part of some kind of strange experiment. I’m not surprised you know? The Decepticons always prey on those weaker than them. I suppose it was a relief that you were saved."

Motto:"I can totally prove that I'm not a zombie! Just lean over hear, and let me take a little nibble out of your brains."

Weapon: Double Barrelled Shell Launcher

Energon Bar

Sludge drank another energon substitute that Side Burn placed in front of him. He certainly wasn't going to turn down a free drink, even as he remembered the events that led to the Dinobot's long absence which the blue warrior had been asking about.

Brought out of his train of thought, Sludge listened as the "bartender" talked with Slag about Prowl a little more, about just how dull and boring the strategist was. Sludge didn't know if Prowl could really make a bot want to offline themselves instead of listening to his droning lectures, or if it would really end the war, but he nodded in agreement anyway.

Much to the jungle warrior's surprise, Slag seemed to have calmed down, or at least had come as close to calm as was possible for the always hostile flamethrower.

"Me Sludge think maybe Slag not turn this pretty bot into scrap after all.", Sludge commented to Swoop and Snarl.

As Side Burn mentioned swapping stories, Sludge decided he would tell the blue warrior about what happened to the Dinobots- or at least, what he could remember and understand about it.

"Me Sludge can tell you what happened to Dinobots.", the jungle warrior said to Side Burn, "We Dinobots went after Shockwave to some planet....", Sludge paused to think harder, "Uh, me Sludge not sure what planet..... uh, what planet did we go to?", the jungle warrior quizzically asked the other Dinobots.

Security Office

Primus, please help guide me! What purpose do you wish me to serve? Why was I spared when my brothers and sisters in the order were not? Was I sent to enlighten these lost sparks, or is there another task you wish me to perform? Please, give me some kind of sign!

Highcall's optics abruptly came back online as he heard Kick Off enter his office. The religious engineer gave a frustrated sigh as his prayers had done nothing to help him understand his path. And sadly for him, it wasn't the first time he'd felt that way recently. He would never say it to anyone, but over the past vorn he had felt his faith in Primus waivering.

Doing his best to shake his feelings of self-doubt, Highcall listened to Kick Off. It was mostly the same talk he got as usual when the engineer had pushed a little too hard to convert someone. Of course there was a very big difference this time, as all the previous incidents had never involved Highcall firing a weapon. As the security officer asked him to explain why he did it, Highcall had to seriously question what to tell him.

Why did I fire? To get Warhaul's attention? No, I know better, it was to get His attention. Maybe if I went to more extreme measures, maybe I'd make some progress in spreading His word and convert more followers. And that would strengthen my own faith in Primus, wouldn't it? He'd see I'm following his light, wouldn't he?

Highcall looked up at Kick Off, knowing full well that he couldn't tell the security officer the real reasons for his actions. How could he understand, how could anyone on this station understand?

"Warhaul was on a path of self-destruction, I felt I had to stop him.", Highcall answered, "And that blue mech and the bartender were only enabling him by serving him more drinks. No one would listen to me, so I did what I felt I had to do. I took his drink- which I suppose would make me guilty of theft too- and I had to destroy it in a dramatic fashion to try to get his attention, to help him see that he has a problem."

Highcall sat in his chair and looked down. He thought over what he had just said and realized that he had made no mention of saving Warhaul's spark, or how the technician was going against Primus' teaching. Why had he not mentioned that, wasn't that what was truly important?

"He- he was sacrificing his spark in self-indulgence!", Highcall hastily added as convincingly as he could, "If he continues down the dark path of the Chaosbringer, he will be doomed for all eternity into Unicron's unending hunger! This is not just my 'belief', this is the truth! There are thousands of vorns worth of datatracks to prove it, why won't you or anyone else understand that?"

And why am I starting to doubt it?

Countdown's Office

Cosmos did his best to remain calm and professional in front of both Countdown and Grimlock, even though he wanted to jump for joy whenever his commander smiled at him. He always thought Countdown was a great commander, it was just too bad their difference in ranks made it inappropriate for them to be better friends. Still, Cosmos was proud to serve Countdown any way he could.

Lowering his salute once Countdown had nodded, Cosmos watched with a little nervous interest as the two commanders met for the first time. He winced a little as the Dinobot leader's massive hand took hold of Countdown's hand.

Cosmos gave a sigh of relief as he watched the two shake without incident. Countdown then dismissed the minibot, though not before giving another smile and a compliment that almost made Cosmos float in the air without being in his saucer mode.

"Thank you sir, I could use some refuelling.", Cosmos merrily replied, then turned to Grimlock, "I look forward to showing you and your team more around the station. Hopefully they're in a much better mood now that they've had some time to fuel up."

With that Cosmos gave a cheerful salute to his commander, then turned around and left the office with a noticible spring in his step. Despite their earlier misunderstandings, Alpha Shipyard's "Best Ambassador" was looking forward to seeing the other Dinobots in the energon bar.

Snarl chuckled quietly to himself as the other Dinobots and even Side Burn recalled just how much of a boring prick-bot Prowl actually was. The Desert Warrior even laughed at the blue mech’s story of someone shorting out their own processor just to get away from the military strategist’s neverending droning. It was enough to put an ever so brief smile on the solar-powered Dinobot’s faceplate before it vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

Taking the free round from Side Burn, Snarl lifted his glass of high grade up and chugged it down in one massive gulp, letting out a loud belch that echoed throughout the room. “Excuse me," was all the Desert Warrior had to say about his rude conduct, not that he cared. Slag’s mention of the war ending, by whatever means, made Snarl’s frown grow even deeper. “War not end! It can’t end! Me Snarl not happy unless ripping some ‘Con’s cranium loose from neck! If war end, me must find new fight!" The plated Dinobot slammed his glass back onto the bar top, not happy at the notion of no more battles or carnage or energon shed. Of course, the likelihood that the war would end any time soon was close to zero, so the Desert Warrior had nothing to really worry about.

Snarl then glanced over at Sludge when his dimwitted comrade noted that the flamethrower did not seem to want to scrap Side Burn anymore. “Just as long as regular war does not end, me fine with blue bot still functioning," the solar-powered mech commented before regarding the Jungle Warrior with a quizzical look as Sludge began telling Side Burn where the Dinobots had been for so long. He didn’t get very far, not even remembering what planet they had been to.

Realizing that giving away too many details to Side Burn could lead to more questions being asked, Snarl interrupted Sludge from speaking further and interjected his own two energon chips into the discussion. “Planet name not important. Listen, lady’s bot, we fight Shockwave but him get lucky against us. Grimlock use our ship in orbit to blast Shockwave, but we end up getting stasis locked along with ol’ one eye. Autobots find us many vorns later and wake us up. We then come here to catch up on technology we missed. That’s it really. Nothing more to tell." Snarl hoped that the barest of essentials would be enough to satisfy the inquisitive mech regarding their past. If not, then perhaps more drastic measures would be required to deter the prying Autobot from attempting to learn more about the Dinobots and their true motives for being here at the Alpha Shipyards.

Main Shipyard - The Trion’s Hull

Grindcore glared at Stockade with an expressionless look across his faceplate. It wasn’t anger or happiness, it was just a stoic visage that revealed nothing emotionally either way. The weapons engineer offered no hard feelings for everything that had transpired between them before Erector had decided to punish the yellow construction worker with a drone’s task of buffering the Trion’s hull. That alone had made Grindcore’s mood go from bad to worse. Even now, with his cranial ache all but gone, the heavy lifter was not willing to let bygones be bygones. Still, with that yellow minibot of a foremech watching on one or more of his many cameras, it was best to just accept Stockade’s offer of friendship and be done with it.

“Errr...okay, fine," Grindcore finally answered plainly as he took Stockade’s hand into his own and shook it with a warrior’s grip. “Don’t know if I want to bullscrap with ya, but I got no hard feelings against ya. After all, you didn’t give me this slaggin’ assignment. So, we’re good." Releasing the weapons specialist’s hand, ‘Core sported a thumb over his shoulder, pointing back towards the hull. “I gotta get back to work or Erector’ll have my aft in a sling."

With those final words spoken and not waiting for a response, Grindcore turned on his heel and headed back for the hover sled. He wanted to get this Primus-forsaken shift over with as quickly as possible before anyone he knew saw him working alongside a bunch of buffer drones like some kind of misbehaving protoform. Unfortunately, someone had probably already spotted him as the shipyards were immense in scale, allowing any number of mechs to catch a glimpse of an out of place construction worker doing something he wasn’t accustomed to or known for.

Fraggin’ humiliating, Grindcore thought as he casually glanced around to see if anyone was staring at him before stepping onto the hover sled and ascending the side of the Trion’s hull once more, auto buffer in hand.

Kick-Off listened as Highcall pleaded his case. It was a bit worse then he expected and put him in a difficult spot. A basic Autobot tenant was freedom of religion, but that had to be balanced against certain other freedoms. While Highcall was free to preach all he wanted, he couldn’t harass others, and he certainly couldn’t be firing weapons in public places. He didn’t want to insult the other Autobot’s beliefs or disrespect his religion, he just needed to get him to see things from his point of view.

“Highcall, I can tell you are passionate about your beliefs and there is nothing wrong with that. You just have to respect the beliefs of others as well, or even the lack there of. Look at it this way, what if a Monoformer were to come up to you and tell you how your transforming disgusted him? How you should reject your transformation cog and even Adaptus himself? What if they blow up a transformation cog right in front of you? It would probably anger you, disturb you or even frighten you. The thing is that Monoformer might be just as passionate about his beliefs as you are. He might be an absolutely loyal Autobot who works hard every day. The same could be said for followers of the Knights of Cybertron, or someone waiting for the Last Autobot to save us all. Those beliefs don’t make them bad Bots, and neither do yours. You just have to be careful how you act on them."

The security chief sat back in his chair. “I’m sure you’ve heard Optimus’s famous line, ‘freedom is the right of all sentient beings.' Well freedom of religion, speech and happiness and all of that are included under that. You can preach and hand out materials all you want, but when someone says ‘no thank you’ you have to move on. They have the write to their beliefs and the right to relax in whatever way they want as allowed under Autobot law. You need to respect that just as everyone else needs to respect your beliefs Highcall. Can you please try to do that in the future Highcall? You’re a good Bot, pretty clean record, I don’t want to be seeing you down here in my office again under these circumstances if we can help it."

*

Energon Bar

Side Burn was happy to see that his Prowl story had broken the ice with the Dinobots, if just by a little bit. If he had known it would just take a bit of ridiculing Prowl to get this far he would have done it a while back. It certainly wasn’t a hard thing to do as there were more then a few stories about him floating around and he had a bit of a reputation.

Unfortunately he could feel the ice freezing up a bit as the Dinobots contemplated a universe without the war. He didn’t want to lose them just as he was getting a foothold with them. The blue Autobot quickly poured up another round as he spoke. “Well I don’t see the war ending anytime soon, even if we unleashed Prowl as a secret weapon. Its not like the fighting stopped while you guys were MIA." He handed out the fresh round of drinks to them.

Side Burn’s optics lit up a bit as finally one of the Dinobots attempted to tell the story of what had happened to them. Unfortunately it was Sludge and the story stopped almost as quickly as it had started. He had mentioned Shockwave though, which definitely made some sense. As far as he knew no one had seen the one opticed Decepticon in a long time, around about when the Dinobots disappeared as well.

Before he could ask any more questions Snarl quickly jumped in to finish up the story. It was kind of light on the details, which made him wonder if the Dinobots were just terrible story tellers or there was something more to this then he was being told. In any case what he did hear was pretty interesting. Side Burn nodded at Snarl. “Good story, and thanks for sharing it. I guess I should welcome you all back to the war then! Hope to fight next to you guys some day!" He poured himself a drink and raised it in salute.

*

Countdown’s Office

Countdown smiled as Cosmos left the room with a noticeable spring in his step. He was glad he could give him something like this to do on board the station. He knew a lot of his work recently has left him alone and outside the station. It was an unfortunate but necessary duty that only he could perform. Hopefully these duties as ambassador would brighten his spirits.

The station commander turned his attention back to Grimlock who had taken a seat across from him. He had arranged for a larger chair to be brought into his office just for this occasion and while it probably wasn’t perfect the Dinobot leader seemed to be making due as best he could.

“So tell me Grimlock, what brings you to Cas Coller exactly? You mentioned something about viewing new technologies, but there has to be more to it then that. The official records have only recently been updated to even mention that you are active again, changed from your status as missing in action and possibly even being AWOL."

Grimlock grunted. This was the part he had been dreading. He had never been much of a talker, let alone a liar. It wasn’t really a skill he had needed much on the battlefield. Talking was more for types like Prowl or Ultra Magnus. It was something preferred by those who couldn’t fight in real battles. Unfortunately he was stuck in a position where all he could use were words and lies. He would just have to do the best he could, and the easiest route seemed to be to stick with the truth.

“Me and Dinobots went after Shockwave. Him doing experiments on other worlds, me not really know what that about. We just after him to take him down. We head down to planet, using organic covering and modes to protect us from high energon levels. We fight shockwave but he cheat, blow off organic layer. We go into stasis lock, but me have back up plan, set ship to fire if not contacted. Ship fire on volcano, it erupt, we all buried until reactivated not too long ago."

Countdown sat back in his chair. “Well that’s a heck of a story, especially considering how long you all must have been buried. How did anyone find you?"

The Dinobot commander shrugged his shoulders. “Native population on planet found us. Me not know how or why, might just have been luck. Buried so long was bound to be found sometime."

The station commander nodded. “I suppose so. Still you were lucky there was an Autobot team already there. You might have been stuck on that planet for who knows how long otherwise, unless your ship was somehow intact there."

Grimlock was a bit startled at his words. It had never occurred to him to even look for the Skyfire. It was certainly a tough ship and even if it did survive it would be in need of repairs. Still, that was something to file away and consider some other time. “Me lucky if you consider being buried for so long and missing so much war to be lucky."

Countdown frowned. “Yes, well, certainly the whole thing is unfortunate. Anyway what brings you here exactly? I wasn’t informed that you were coming and it seems an odd place for a group like yours to be sent to. I’d imagine you’d be right back on the frontlines somewhere."

The Dinobot let out a sigh. He would rather be on the front lines as well instead of in an office lying to some bureaucrat. It was all for the greater good though, he just had to remember that. “We sent here to get up to date on technology. Believe me, me rather be on front lines. Me think this punishment from Prime for disagreeing with him too much."

Countdown smiled, “Ahhh, I see. Well, I hope we can make this punishment as pleasurable as possible for you and your men. Perhaps you would be interested in some of the training rooms we have available here."

Grimlock nodded. The Dinobots probably would need to do some fighting soon. Sitting around too long was going to make them irritable, or more irritable in some cases. In a training room they could cut loose for awhile. Better in there then somewhere more delicate. “Me do that, but me also want to here more about new technology, like warships. Me heard there some big new battleship here about to be launched?"

Countdown frowned for a second. Cosmos must have let that slip. It didn’t really matter though, with Grimlock’s rank he probably could have looked it up. At this point the Trion wasn’t really that much of a secret anyway. “Yes, the Trion is our pride and joy. She’s nearly ready for launch too, she’ll be the flagship of whatever fleet she’s sent to."

The Dinobot Commander nodded. “Me would like to see it in person. Me not tech type, but still want to see top of the line warship. Maybe me be commanding one soon."

Countdown nodded. “I think something can be arranged. I’ll have to talk to Kick-Off about security of course, and it might take a little time. The ship is still going through some last minute finishing touches, getting supplied, fresh coat of wax and all of that. Have to have her looking her best before she leaves us," he smiled.

Grimlock grunted before standing up. “Me better get to Dinobots. Left alone for too long they get into trouble."

Countdown quickly jumped up as well. “Of course, and we wouldn’t want that. It’s been an honor meeting you Grimlock, I hope your stay here isn’t too unpleasant." He let out a light chuckle. Grimlock merely nodded before walking out.

The Dinobot stifled a sigh of relief at that meeting finally being over. He couldn’t remember the last time he had to talk so much. The sooner they got the Trion and got out of here the better. Talking, socializing, these weren’t things he was particularly good at. He needed the Trion and to get back to Earth. Cutting down some Decepticons and making a dent in this war would make up for all of this hassle. He set off for the energon bar to gather his team back up, not wanting to use communications more then necessary. He wasn’t going to take any chances now that they were so close to their goal.

"Let's hope we don't see your face again for a while, Warhaul," the medic said. The security officer on duty had received the necessary clearance and with a little additional processing for the sake of records-keeping, Warhaul had been released to his own devices.

"You won't," Warhaul grunted before leaving the brig altogether and walking the corridors. He would have to pass by the energon bar again in order to get to the barracks, but he was pretty sure he could resist the temptation to go in. He couldn't jeopardize the work he was doing. Not now. Or it would most definitely be his aft plating being run through the incinerator. Along with the rest of him, probably.

Besides, the Dinobots and co being here had made the whole bar scene more interesting. And that Highcall glitch. If it wouldn't be so distracting--and get him put right back in the brig--he'd show that little zealot where he could go shove his Primus garbage.

Well...on second thought....maybe just one little check-in at the bar wouldn't hurt anyone. No energizing though. Just business. Yeah, that'd work.___

Berth Six--Ark-19

Well, the bridge was...bridgey. Cloudburst had walked through the majority of the ship at this point, occasionally chatting with a tech here and there about what sorts of maintenance was being run on the ship. What needed fixing could sometimes tell a good story about where something had been--be it a ship or a 'Bot. Standing on the bridge of the Ark-19, Cloudburst could imagine the kinds of frontline action that would have been seen on a ship of this nature.

What kinds of orders had been given from the spot he now stood on? What kinds of emergency calls needed to be made in order to keep her spaceworthy? Such questions were what occupied the majority of Cloudburst's thoughts.

The majority, but not all.

Sitting down at the comm station, Cloudburst began an attempt to poke through mission logs, journals...anything on the surface that might be accessible to someone who was not an official crewmember of this vessel that would confirm everything that had been told to them for the Ark's coming here. Not that he doubted any of the Dinobots per se, but one could never be too cautious. It was a war, after all.

Motto:"I can totally prove that I'm not a zombie! Just lean over hear, and let me take a little nibble out of your brains."

Weapon: Double Barrelled Shell Launcher

Security Office

Highcall listened as Kick Off explained the need to respect other's beliefs, bringing up examples of some other known religions. Though he got the message, it brought about some questions within Highcall.

Could that be why my faith in Primus has faltered lately? For many vorns I had only been around other members of the Church, who thought exactly as I thought. Since I joined the Autobots and came to this station I have been exposed to so many other beliefs, not to mention those who have none.

Once Kick Off had finished, the engineer nodded his head thoughtfully in agreement.

"You're right Kick Off. I've been stationed here for I don't know how many vorns, but I still think like I'm with the Church surrounded by my brothers and sisters. I swear by the Holy Light that I will make an effort to respect the decisions of others."

Highcall looked down to his wrists, looking at the restraints that were still there. Rather than strengthen his own beliefs, his decisions had brought personal shame and doubt toward them. He looked back up to Kick Off.

"I'd like to apologize to Warhaul, and the blue Autobot who paid for the drink I destroyed, as well as the bar owner and anyone else I disturbed. Unless you think I should stay in your custody longer."

Energon Bar

Still feeling in high spirits, Cosmos walked cheerfully into the bar. Though he took the time to greet and chat with some of the patrons, it didn't take long for him to find his (hopefully) new friends the Dinobots sitting right at the bar. Not surprisingly there was a good distance between them and most of the other mechs trying to enjoy a drink.

Well, it doesn't look like they've hurt anyone. That's a good sign.

Courageously the small green mech walked right to the bar where the Dinobots sat around, drinking.

The flying saucer went to the stool right next to the Dinobot flamethrower. Though Slag didn't look to be in much of a good mood, he was at least in a better mood than the last time Cosmos had seen him. Cosmos gave him a curt nod of the head.

Unfortunately for the stout mech, the stools were a little high for him. He looked at the seat, which was about optic level for him. He had tried to get into the barstools before on his own in robot mode, but it was always just an embarrassing display of his inherent, normal-gravity clumsiness.

"Uh say," Cosmos sheepishly asked the larger, stronger mechs, "I can't quite get up into the stool, and it's kind of a bother to have to transform to my saucer mode and back just to go up a few feet. Can one of you give me a hand?"

Sludge was quite glad to see the arrival of Cosmos, he had already gotten some good laughs watching him. So when the short mech asked for a hand, the jungle warrior had no problem abliging.

"Okay.", Sludge simply said as he got up, "Me Sludge can help you."

"Oh, thank you so much Sludge.", Cosmos thanked as he spread his arms to the side so the large Dinobot could get an easy grip, "I really appreciate the hel- hey, wait-"

Much to Cosmos' surprise the jungle warrior did not try to gently pick him up by the waist, but instead grabbed him by the head.

"Whoa, whoa not there- OW!", the stout green mech said startled as Sludge large fingers got a grip of his cranium, "That's my HEAD, not a handle! OW!"

Sludge simply chuckled as he easily lifted the short little bot, all the while Cosmos struggled, hopelessly flapping his arms and legs. Once the jungle warrior had brought Cosmos a few feet above the stool he let go of the green mech.

"OOF!", went Cosmos as his aft not so gently landed on the seat, "Thanks.... I guess."

Sludge casually went back to where he was next to Snarl as if he had done nothing wrong. He took the newest mug of energon and lifted it, several seconds after the others, and took a long gulp of it. Sludge couldn't really count how many he had drank so far, though it was probably from a lack of keeping track rather than from drunkeness. Being as large as he was, it took a lot of energon to get the jungle warrior overfueled.

Cosmos, meanwhile, did his best to get comfortable, though he had to stand on the stool to be close to eye level with the other bots.

"Say, you're Side Burn, aren't you?" the flying saucer asked the blue mech, "I didn't know you were a bartender, I'd heard you were here on leave. Do you think you could serve an Energon wine to Alpha Shipyards 'Best Ambassador", the stout little mech requested with pride, "Say, do you know anyone who's good with a rifle? On the way here I passed by a couple of femmes who were headed for the shooting range for target practice. They said they needed a shartshooter to help them with their aim, but I didn't really know anyone around that could help them."

As Cosmos waited for a reply to his drink request and his query, he looked over to Slag right next to him.

"I certainly hope you're enjoying yourself here, Slag. I'm sorry that we got off on the wrong foot earlier, I certainly didn't mean any disrespect.", Cosmos said politely, and extended out his hand in the hopes the Dinobot flamethrower would accept his apology, "I certainly hope we can forget about earlier and be friends."

As Sludge finished his mug he looked over and watched as the little green mech tried to make nice with the violent Dinobot Slag. He then looked to both Snarl and Swoop.

Motto:"Never underestimate the power of insanity-- especially when it's mine."

Weapon: High-Powered, Laser-Sighted, Photon Rifle

Energon Bar

How was it that the most feared Autobots in existence ended up attracting the most annoying—and persistent—Autobots in existence? Just as Swoop began to hope that maybe they’d be able to drink in peace, who should waddle in but saucerbot. Why was he talking to them? No one talked to the Dinobots except Dinobots; except maybe some of the brass but that was more yelling than talking. Swoop rolled his optics when the green mech asked for help getting into the barstool next to Slag of all mechs. He was about to suggest just getting a box when Sludge surprised him by volunteering to help. What was the jungle warrior—oh. Oh. Swoop couldn’t help but snicker when Sludge picked the minibot up by the head and watched as the smaller mech flailed helplessly. Maybe now the saucerbot would get the idea that Dinobots didn’t do nice.

Nope. The bombardier was instead getting the idea that this bot had a death wish. Swoop could only nod and agree with Sludge’s comment. “Alpha Shipyard’s ‘Best Ambassador’ is about to become Alpha Shipyard’s Best Puddle," He dryly added.

Skyfall happened to be the type of mech that fed off of other peoples’ misery. Someone who found some sort of joy in abusing others with words instead of fists. Their tactics were always effective. Unfortunately in his profession the doctor had a very hard time avoiding Skyfall’s type.

“So, uh…doc, you were a ‘Con, yeah?"

Ambulon let out an annoyed sigh but kept silent as he prepared to remove his patient’s visor to get a better look at Skyfall’s optic and to replace the cracked covering. The refusal to answer his question caused the weapons engineer to begin to fidget making it much more difficult to perform his task. Finally Ambulon placed a firm hold on the red mech’s shoulder and glared directly into his visor.

“Look, you want me to perform these repairs then you’re going to have to stay still."

Skyfall finally stilled his movements.

“Fine, but you still haven’t answered my question."

“Yes, I was a Decepticon, but I’m not anymore. And no, I won’t be going back, and no I am not a spy. Satisfied?"

He shrugged his shoulders while he made sure to keep his head as still as he could manage. He said nothing in response…instead he just watched every movement Ambulon made. Once the doctor finished with his repairs and his visor was replaced, Skyfall took a quick look around making sure that there were no left over spider cracks that had gone unnoticed.

Ambulon Had already moved the tray of tools to a small counter when the door slid open and Pharma stalked inside. Skyfall’s head whipped around while Ambulon turned in his place and stared at the CMO a concerned look on his face.

“Hey, Pharma. Glad you’re back. I had this run in with those Dinobot dolts earlier…one of them lobbed a mug at me…cracked my visor and put a dent in my face. Mind taking a look?"Ambulon quickly shot Skyfall an irritated glare before returning his gaze to the white and red flier.

“Didn’t Ambulon take care of you, Skyfall?"

“Well, yeah. But you are the CMO after all. Figured you always inspected your subordinates’ work. I mean, it’s what I would do."

Pharma met the former ‘Con’s optics with his own before they narrowed and broke away. He made his way over to the waiting engineer where he began to look over the repairs that had been made. With the CMO now in close proximity Skyfall took the opportunity to voice his opinion on his doctor in a hushed tone.

“I can’t believe they let this guy in. I mean he was a ‘Con for Primus sake. He could easily be some kind of covert agent…or he could be an assassin. I don’t trust him. How about you? I mean you work with him all the time. You notice anything…you know, weird?"

Pharma sent the rambling engineer a deep scowl before he looked back to his subordinate who had turned his attention to the tools that were in need of cleaning.

“I notice everything, Skyfall. I notice everything and everyone. But don’t go worrying about Ambulon. I’ve worked with him long enough to know he’s an admirable medic."

Skyfall tilted his head slightly and stared back at the flier.

“That’s it? Just an admirable medic?"

Pharma pulled away and gave the red mech a slight nod. Once he was satisfied that the repairs Ambulon had performed were satisfactory Pharma pulled away from the engineer and smiled.

“Well, everything looks fine, Skyfall. Just follow any and all of Ambulon’s orders and you’ll be as good as new in no time."

Hopping off the medical berth Skyfall let out a snort of disappointment and made to leave. He stopped just before exiting the already open doors and looked over his shoulder at the two medics.

“Thanks, Pharma. I’ll catch you later."

The lack of recognition did not go unnoticed by the ward supervisor, but he remained silent, after all this was not the first time one of his patients thanked his superior even if Pharma hadn’t even been present. Instead of dwelling on the subject Ambulon simply returned to his work. But that, again, was interrupted this time however; it was not due to the arrival of another patient. This time it was the feeling of being watched.

The doctor gently placed the laser scalpel down on the tray and slowly looked over his shoulder only to see Pharma’s narrowed optics glaring in his direction.

“What?"

Without a word the CMO stalked toward him but never stopped. Instead he shoved the former Decepticon out of his way as he made his way to his office where he locked himself in. Ambulon let out a heavy breath as soon as he heard the lock click in place.

Main Shipyard – The Trion’s Hull

Stockade was relieved, in one aspect, that Grindcore had actually decided to take a firm hold of the weapons specialists’ hand shook it. Although it was the heavy lifter’s apprehension that caused Stockade’s smile fade.

“Right, well, no bullscrap."

The supervisor forced a smile and offered Grindcore a nod at the latter’s mention that he was still on duty and needed to finish up his work. Stockade didn’t feel it necessary to keep the mech from his punishment so he waited a moment and watched as the hover sled disappeared from sight taking it’s occupant with it.

“Well, that could have gone better."

Stockade let out a heavy sigh, turned on his heel and headed back the way he had come. On the way he opened up a line to his second letting the mech know he was on his way over.

>>"Yeah, I’m done. I’m headin’ back now so those lazy slag-headed cretins better have gotten something done by the time I get there or I’m taking it out of your hide…capiche?"<<

The worried response coming from the other end of the line made the weapons specialist crack a wide grin. It was always nice to know he could instill fear in his men during work hour while simultaneously being able to shoot the bull with them in a relaxed setting.

Energon Bar

“And what makes you think this war ain’t gonna end, Snarl? You capable of seeing the future now?!"

Slag shot his teammate a steely glare before turning his attention toward Sludge who decided to take it upon himself to let Side Burn in on just what had happened to them and why the entire team went missing. Slag let out a growl of disappointment before reaching up and slapping the back of Sludge’s head.

“Unbelievable, Sludge! One lunk-head asks a stupid question and you’re ready to spill!"

Slag looked back to the ‘Bot still positioned behind the bar and stood up. The hulking flamethrower then leaned over the counter in order to come optic to optic with Side Burn.

“Look, pretty-boy, you keep your nose clean and knock off the curiosity and maybe, just maybe I won’t incinerate you before the day is out."

Slag held his gaze for a few moments swiped one of the bottles of hard energon and finally settled back down onto his stool. With a snort the flamethrower downed the entire bottle and wiped the excess from his mouth with the back of his hand before slamming the empty container back onto the counter.

“And I hope I never see you on the same battle field as us…you’d never make it out alive."

His attention then turned back to the hulking jungle warrior as Sludge plopped the small rotund form of Cosmos down onto a stool that just happened to be situated right next to the flamethrower. Slag sent a glare at Cosmos and then turned and looked back toward the mirror that hung behind the temporary bar keep.

“Drop dead, Cosmos."

Without another word Slag took long chug from a newly arrived mug of high grade.

The doors to the energon pub slid open with fresh vigor. Unclouded by the excesses of unnecessary energon, Warhaul could see everything going on around him in a new light.

"Dind't think I'd see you back here so soon," one of the tenders said. "You need another?"

"Not a chance," Warhaul chuckled, attempting to appear good-natured. He wanted another, of course. he wanted to get just as overcharged on energon as he had the last time. But that would jeopardize the mission that he had been sent here to accomplish. And he couldn't have that.

This time he just took an auxiliary position on one of the barstools. Just so he could watch what was going on. No drinking.........no drinking.

The Dinobots were still here. That was a positive. If he could sabotage the Autobots and remove one of the premier Autobot teams in existence, he would wind up being a legend. Slag, Megatron may even make him a high commander. His own fleet. What an orn that would be.

"Quarter-glass of filler. Nothing extra," Warhaul finally said. No need to look like he was being a prude, after all.

Snarl was happy that Side Burn seemed content with his explanation of the Dinobots’ whereabouts for so many vorns. Not that it really had worried the Desert Warrior all that much, but it was still one less mess for Grimlock to be concerned with. They were supposed to be keeping a low profile, after all, and smashing the blue mech’s cranial plating in to keep him quiet wouldn’t have been in keeping with the Dinobot Commander’s orders. Of course, Snarl didn’t always follow his leader’s instructions as he didn’t always agree with them. However, that was not the case in this particular situation.

The Desert Warrior couldn’t help but chuckle under his breath at the notion of Side Burn fighting side by side with the Dinobots. Like a mech as small and weak as him could really hold his own with an elite fighting squad such as the Dinobots. It was inconceivable. “You never make it with us, kid. You not Dinobot material. Besides, we not need any help. We work alone!"

Snarl’s attention was then drawn to the flamethrower, who wasted no time in berating his comrade for hoping that the war would never end. “Me no see future, Slag. Me just saying that war can’t end! It must not end! If war ends someday, then me have to find new war. Me not happy unless me fighting! Can’t live in universe without conflict!" The plated mech then watched and listened as Slag turned his anger towards Side Burn, threatening him with bodily harm if he didn’t keep his inquisitive nature in check.

With a shake of his cranium, Snarl picked up and downed another mug of high grade in one massive gulp. This was followed quickly by the arrival of Cosmos, who was helped onto a stool with much hilarity by the dimwitted Jungle Warrior. The green minibot then tried to make nice with the flamethrower, but had little success. The solar-powered Dinobot cast his gaze over at Sludge, who had been the one to put Cosmos in harm’s way. “Yes, and it would be your fault if little saucer-bot gets toasted! Ha ha!"

Snarl gave his less than intelligent comrade a hard pat on the shoulder before turning his attention back down to his empty mug. He then looked up to Side Burn, who was still functioning due greatly to the fact he had not asked any of them more questions. “Hey, Side Burst, or whatever name is, another round! Me still thirsty! Heh." The Desert Warrior was beginning to feel the effects of all the potent energon he had been drinking. Snarl, like the rest of the Dinobots, were big mechs and could handle their high grade better than most. However, even they had their limits.

Grimlock walked back into the bar, his brow furrowed in annoyance. While he had ordered the Dinobots to relax a bit and keep a low profile a small part of him had hoped they would do something productive. At the very least he hoped they wouldn’t have gotten themselves overenergized. By the looks of things he had probably arrived just in time to avoid that. He needed to whip them back into shape and get them on board for their next movie. Fortunately he had an idea on how to do both.

The Dinobot commander walked up to the bar where his team was sitting and grunted. “Me gave you permission to relax, not over fill your energon tanks. Me don’t want to drag your stasis locked bodies around from overenergizing because you too lazy and thirsty. We Dinobots, we don’t sit around and drink all day. We fight, or get ready to fight, or practice fighting!"

He turned to Cosmos who he had spotted sitting nearby. Hopefully the minibot could help him out again, preferably without talking too much. "Cosmos, you can show me and Dinobots nearest training room. Me need to work them out, get extra energon out of system and make sure they still know how to fight."

Honestly doing some training sounded good to him on many levels. All of this talking and taking meetings was for Bots like Prowl. Bureaucracy, protocol, look what it had gotten them in all of this time. First it was the corrupt old senate and leadership on Cybertron and now it had taken a firm hold on this war. Infiltration protocols, treaties and agreements with the Decepticons. Its like everyone had forgot how to wage war while he was gone. Doing some fighting, even if it was against drones, would help relieve some of the frustration that was building inside of him. Nothing in life became quite so clear as when his sword was slicing through an enemy. Act and react, hit and move, live or die, it was in those sharp, distinct moments that you truly saw what mechs were made of, and when everything became so clear.

*

Side Burn shot a smile at Cosmos as he talk to him. “That would be me, the one and only. Glad to hear that my reputation precedes me once again." His expression changed to a frown as he poured another round for the Dinobots. Being a bartender was not a reputation he wanted though. He was going to have to do something to shake that image out of people’s minds. “I’m just pitching in a bit, these guys can be a bit much for a simple shipyard bartender to take care of." He gestured at the Dinobots as he passed out the drinks.

He smiled again at Cosmos as he poured the wine for him. “Here you are Mister Best Ambassador, enjoy! I’m sure it’s well deserved." He handed him the glass as he listened to the minibot mentioned something about some femmes.

“Lovely femmes you say? In need of some marksmanship training. Hmmm, I just might know the perfect mech to give them some instruction. If you could just point me in their direction I would be much obliged."

The blue Autobot looked up at the doorway as Grimlock strolled into the room. The Dinobots were certainly a big bunch, bulky and intimidating but their leader had an extra aura about him. It was like he walked into a room expecting to lead everyone inside of it. It was an interesting effect and one he just might have to study and pick up sometime. Of course there was no time for that now, not with the lovely ladies needing his help.

Side Burn glanced at the Dinobots. “Well guys its been fun but it looks like the boss man is here to shut down the party. You guys have a good stay here and maybe I’ll see ya around."

*

Security Office

Kick-Off smiled at Highcall as he produced the key to his cuffs. “I’m glad to hear that Highcall. Sometimes we all get too wrapped up in our work or beliefs and we make mistakes. This war has gone on so long that we sometimes forget how to act in a regular society. Even here, where we aren’t even close to the front the war touches us. You don’t need to do anything but look at all those ships under construction in the docks to know that. You aren’t the first one to make a mistake like this and you won’t be the last. I’m glad you have learned from it though."

The security chief unlocked the cuffs and removed them. “No, you’re free to go. You’ll be fined though and you’ll probably have to pull some extra shifts as punishment." He sat back in his chair as the other Autobot mentioned wanting to apologize. “You can go and apologize, I won’t stop you. I’d just recommend you be careful about it. That other mech should be sobered up and cooled off by now, but you never know. The bar might not be the most welcoming place for you now either, but I’m sure if you explain what you are there for it’ll be alright.

Warhaul drank his filler. It barely registered anything on his internal fuel sensors, but it was satisfying to ingest anyway. Now that he was back to his normal energy levels it would be time for him to get back to his normal responsibilities, too. Normal responsibilities like working on that beautiful Autobot ship they were building in this place.

There had been no opportunity for him to engage in any kind of sabotage aboard that thing yet. His work, just like that of every other technician that was assigned to work aboard the Trion, was checked and re-checked by additional supervisory technicians to ensure that it had been done properly. Warhaul couldn't blow his cover so early. But he knew that he would find his opportunity.

Decepticon intelligence had no idea that a ship of this order was being constructed here on the Alpha Shipyards, but the possibility that it might was precisely the reason that he had received this assignment. He might get a little sloppy in drinking establishments and forget his objective temporarily, but he knew how to do his job and get back on track.

The temptation to get another drink, one without filler, was pretty heavy. He mulled it over for a few astroseconds before deciding against it. He supposed he could get to his workstation a few breems early. He needed to devote as much of his functioning time as possible to finding a window of opportunity for bringing that ship down before it ever entered the Autobot fleet.

"Havin' another?" the barkeep asked.

"Nah," Warhaul said, pushing the container away and sliding away from the bar. "Got work to do."

"Alright, 'Hauly. See you next cycle or so."

Warhaul grumbled some sort of acknowledgement as he turned to leave the bar surroundings. By the Pit he hated that nickname. Leave it to peacenik, do-gooding Autobots to come up with something so corny.

Motto:"I can totally prove that I'm not a zombie! Just lean over hear, and let me take a little nibble out of your brains."

Weapon: Double Barrelled Shell Launcher

Security Office

Highcall listened intently as Kick-Off spoke before the security mech unlocked and removed the restraints around his wrists. He spent a few astroseconds rubbing and stretching his wrists before he stood up, giving a sudden exhale as Kick-Off mentioned his possible punishment.

"I shouldn't have a problem paying the fine, and I'm more than willing to work any extra shifts.....", he gave a weak smile as he put his hand up to his forehead, shaking in realization, "But now I'm starting to understand why I keep getting transfered to different assignments so often. I don't know if there's any crew chief or senior engineer who'd want me on their team."

Highcall shut off his optical sensors for a moment, his cooling fans taking in a deep intake. He gave a thought to Primus then turned his optics back on.

"But that's the recharging berth I made, and now I'll have to go to sleep mode on it. If Primus was willing to give up his freedom for the sake of the Universe, than I can certainly work whatever assignment is given to me to attone for my mistake, even if it means scrubbing the cargo hold of a garbage scow."

The Autobot engineer turned and walked toward the security office door, but stopped just short of leaving and turned toward the security mech. He put his palms together and lowered his head in a partial bow.

"Thank you, Kick-Off. You may not believe in any of it, but I think you've helped me see His guiding light more clearly.", Highcall parted his hands and lifted his head up, "You have my word that I won't cause any more trouble. The next time we see each other I hope it will be more as friends, and not as law enforcement detaining a criminal."

Giving a curt nod, Highcall turned around and walked out the door.

Energon Bar

Cosmos gladly took the wine glass from Side Burn. He raised his glass in appreciation.

"Thank you, Side Burn. Your right, these guys can be a little rough at times, but I'm sure their all good bots.", Cosmos nodded, then lowered his drink, "Now if I remember right, those femmes said they were going to shooting range 4, one deck up from here."

Retracting his faceplate, Cosmos brought the energon wine to his mouth and savored the smooth taste of his drink. Good drinks, good friends, what could be better?

The bubble that Cosmos was floating on quickly burst, though. While he had hoped the Dinobots would be more social and friendly after a few drinks, the flamethrower sitting right next to him seemed to be thinking the exact opposite. With just three words, Slag sent the green mech tumbling back down to Cybertron. He nearly spilled his drink.

Though the drinks were still just as good as when he got there, Sludge was starting to get a little tired of all the drinking as he downed each mug simply because they were in front of him. Being the largest of the Dinobots he was the most capable of holding his fuel.

"That good one, Swoop. Slag make good puddle out of little green am-bas-sa-dor.", Sludge chuckled as he had to say "ambassador" with considerable effort. One had to wonder if it was because of all the energon substitute he'd drank, or his own natural dimwittedness.

Sludge then turned and listened to the desert warrior sitting to the other side of him, continuing to berate the blue mech who had been serving him drinks and argue with the Dinobot flamethrower. Then Snarl gave his own two energon chips on the Cosmos situation with Slag, putting the blame on Sludge.

"Huh?", was all Sludge could reply as he rubbed his chin, slowly processing his thoughts, "Uh, me Sludge had not thought of that."

Sludge looked over at the flamethrower, who had already blasted the jungle warrior for talking too much to Side Burn. Slag simply sat there drinking and fuming, but so far hadn't laid a finger on the little green mech. Cosmos, standing on the stool, looked nervous and confused, but was still in one piece. The jungle warrior shrugged. Maybe he did help Cosmos onto the stool and right next to the most volatilte member of the Dinobots, but if the flying saucer got hurt that was his own problem.

It was then that heard loud footsteps enter the bar, and before he knew it their leader was back, and none too happy. To be honest Sludge didn't know what exactly they'd done wrong. Grimlock had told them to go to the bar and not get into any trouble or say anything about their mission. As far as the jungle warrior knew they had followed those orders. Still, Grimlock was the strongest, so he must have been right to be upset with them.

"Uh, me Sludge sorry, Grimlock.", the jungle warrior stood up from the now crumpled up stool, maybe a little too eagerly as he staggered and had to grab the table to keep from falling. One had to wonder if he was drunk or just his normal clumsy self.

Once stood up Sludge turned and stepped toward his leader, "Me Sludge ready to practice fighting.", he said enthusiastacally, raising his fists to prove his point.

*

Cosmos took another drink of his wine as he tried to think of some way to break the ice with Slag, but nothing was coming to him. He was starting to think that maybe it was better to give up with the flamethrower, and maybe all the Dinobots in general.

Maybe I don't need to be friends with every bot that arrives here.... It certainly seems like trying to be friends with these Dinobots may get me killed.

Before Cosmos could say anything else to Slag, he heard Grimlock enter. After a quick dressing down of his team, the Dinobot leader turned to the green mech, requesting he show them to the nearest training facility.

"Oh, uh, yes, sure thing Grimlock, I'm happy to help you and your team in anyway.", Cosmos nervously replied.

Gulping down the rest of his wine and setting the glass on the bar counter, Cosmos carefully lowered himself down from the stool- he wasn't going to make the mistake of asking one of the Dinobots for help a second time. Once his feet were on the floor he stepped up to the Dinobot commander- the only Dinobot who'd seem to have any patience with Cosmos.

"Well, the closest training facility on the station is at the other end of the hallway.", Cosmos informed.

Cosmos then looked at the gathered Dinobots around him- big, rough, each of them incredibly strong and capable of doing a lot of damage without even trying.

"But you know, there's this other facility two decks up.", Cosmos added, "It was designed to handle squads of up to 30 mechs, much larger and more durable. It might be safer.... structural integrity of the station, that is. Uh, I'll lead the way and you can decide as we go."

Cosmos waddled out the bar as quickly as he could, hoping a head start would help him from slowing down the larger Dinobots with their longer strides.

Here's hoping this all goes well.

*

Highcall gave a curteous, if confused nod to the guards outside the bar. He wasn't sure why their continued presence was needed with it was a relatively minor incident earlier, but that didn't matter. He looked around, and to his relief saw the mech he was looking for leaving the bar.

I knew this is the right thing to do., he thought as he looked up to Primus, He may have gone against your teachings, but I realize now that it was wrong for me to judge him. When the time comes for all you shall judge them as you see fit. And for now, I must atone for my behavour. Give me strength.

Lowering his head, Highcall made eye contact with Warhaul. The engineer raised his hands in the air, showing that he was unarmed and had no intention of fighting.

"Warhaul,", he addressed the technician as he walked up to the much taller mech, "Do you have an astrosecond? I would like to talk, and I promise you that is has nothing to do with Primus."

When Side Burn placed yet another round of high grade in front of Snarl, the Desert Warrior wasted no time in grabbing the mug with his large right hand and consuming its contents in one big gulp. The plated Dinobot then slammed the glass receptacle down hard onto the bar top, causing it to shatter into several pieces. “Ooops," Snarl muttered without cracking so much as a smirk. “Need new glass here, Side Born!"

Before the blue Autobot could respond, however, Grimlock appeared and began berating the Dinobots for getting overengerized and being too lazy. Snarl took offense at the notion that he was lazy and quickly stood up, glaring over at his commander. “Me not lazy, Grimlock! Me can hold energon just fine! Besides, nothing else to do around here. At least we not destroy anything or anyone...." the Desert Warrior said, glancing over at Slag before returning his attention to the Dinobot leader. "....yet."

Snarl then regarded Sludge with a frown as the Jungle Warrior sheepishly apologized to Grimlock. “Yeah, me sorry, too....for not having enemy to crush instead of downing drinks!" The Desert Warrior declared, his anger beginning to dissipate at the mention of a training facility where the Dinobots could go and at least pretend like they were fighting ‘Cons. “Yeah, good idea! Let’s go to training room! Me want to fight something before me punch hole in wall," the solar-powered mech said as he glanced over at Cosmos who had just suggested they head to a facility located two decks up. “Sound good. Lead way, little saucer-bot!"

As the green minibot headed out of the bar, Snarl moved by Grimlock and Sludge without saying another word and followed Cosmos into the corridor. Soon the plated Dinobot would be bashing drones and holomatter Decepticons. Hopefully, there was a super advanced training level as anything less would present no challenge whatsoever to the Desert Warrior or his aggressive comrades.

Main Shipyard - The Trion’s Hull

Still standing on the hover sled high above the catwalks, Grindcore continued his monotonous task of buffing the side of the Trion’s hull. The gentle whir of the auto-buffer would have been soothing to most ‘Bots, but not to the heavy lifter who found it to be irritating like a tiny cyber-gnat buzzing around his audios. The construction worker couldn’t take much more of this mundane chore. Hadn’t the tiny foremech made his point by now? Surely, this extended period of punishment didn’t fit the crime, if being hungover could even be called that.

“Stupid Erector," Grindcore grunted under his breath as he adjusted the hover sled’s height a bit lower to reach a spot he had missed before.

“What was that, ‘Core?" The question came from below as another hover pad rose up beside the yellow worker. It was Erector who had decided to come out of his office and inspect Grindcore’s progress in person. One could only see so much sitting in a confined room looking at display screens. Being out in the shipyard, itself, allowed for a much closer look and was also much more satisfying on a personal level. “Did I just hear you say that something or someone was stupid?"

“Uh...um...no boss, not at all," a surprised Grindcore replied, looking over at the yellow and grey minibot that was hovering next to his cranium. “Just having problems with the auto-buffer, that’s all. Heh."

“Ah, I see," Erector said with a knowing smile. The foremech was neither dumb nor deaf and knew full well what his subordinate had just uttered in a hushed tone. Comments like that were to be expected, however, especially from a construction worker who was being punished for his irresponsible behavior. Thus, the minibot chose to pay it no mind. Besides, the dumbfounded look on Grindcore’s faceplate when his boss suddenly appeared beside him was enough satisfaction to prevent any foremech from taking further corrective action.

“Your buffer appears as though it’s doing an adequate job from what I can see," Erector continued as he leaned in to closely inspect the Trion’s hull.

“Ah, yeah, I guess," Grindcore responded as he kept his optics focused on the tiny foremech. “I just have to play with it a little, that’s all."

“Good, good," Erector commented as he glanced over at his subordinate. “So, how are you feeling?"

“Honestly, boss, I’m bored," the heavy lifter said in no uncertain terms. “My time is wasted here."

“I agree," the minibot nodded. “But it’s also wasted down in the energon bar. If you want to be a Wrecker some day, you should be in the training facility and not overfilling your tanks with high grade."

“You don’t know that," Erector countered as he moved his hover pad around to the other side of the heavy lifter so he could look the larger mech in the optics. “You can always try again. They’re always looking for new recruits. It’s not out of the question, but you have to believe in yourself and stop drowning your sorrows in energon."

“No," the foremech replied stoically before his visage softened. “But you may clock out, anyway. I think you’ve been out here long enough and have done a decent job. The drones should be able to finish from here on out."

“Thank you, sir!" Grindcore said as he perked up a bit. “I promise I won’t come to work again in that condition."

“If you do, your services will no longer be required here," Erector stated in a serious tone. “I’m sorry, but I’ve given you numerous chances in the past and you will NOT get another one after this. Is that clearly understood, ‘Core?"

“Good. Now, get going and give careful thought to what I said. You can still be a Wrecker, but you have to want it."

Grindcore quietly nodded again before lowering his hover sled down to the catwalk below. He then stepped off and made his way out of the main shipyard as Erector remained behind and watched. The minibot hoped he had finally gotten through to the heavy lifter, but only time would tell if that was the case or if the foremech would eventually have to fire his best worker not to mention a good friend.

Warhaul had hoped to have an uninterrupted an uneventful trek between the energon bar and the main shipyard where The Trion was kept. He knew that he could be his own worst enemy sometimes and it would be all too easy to slip up and give away what he was really here to do. But he had made it this far. He wasn't going to mess up now. Even if the mech who had stopped him was the latest one to tempt him to cross that line.

Warhaul stopped for a second, giving Highcall an appraising look before starting to walk past him.

"You can have all the astroseconds I got between now and when I get to work," Warhaul said, deciding that the better strategy right now--since complete avoidance wasn't an option--was to engage just like any other Autobot. "Whaddya want?"

This Highcall character was lucky he was on an Autobot installation, in Warhaul's judgement. A spark that committed to Primus wouldn't last a full vorn in the Decepticon ranks before someone extinguished it. Forget vorns. Probably not even an orn. He had to admit, through the prism of not being completely overtanked, that Highcall wasn't really that bad of a mech. One of the more decent ones he had encountered since his own activation during the early stages of the Great War.

It was unfortunate that he would likely become another one of its many casualties before Megatron finally raised the fist of victory. ___

Berth Six--Ark-19

Well, everything checked out. Everything that Cloudburst could get in to and check, anyway. Dinobots away from the main battlefield to get a key Autobot vessel outfitted with some more modern hardware and ensure that she was running in optimum condition.

Fair enough, Cloudburst thought as he swiveled in his chair away from the comm station and got up.

His presence here was going a little above and beyond his typical duty roster, but Countdown had known that about him when he brought him aboard. He liked to think that he was a far cry from the nigh-legendary paranoia levels of the infamous Red Alert, but he also acknowledged the possibility that it could simply be him attempting to rationalize his own behavior. Whichever was more true, he at least felt as if he had done his job here.

Slag remained facing the bar even when Grimlock arrived to see just how they were doing…more importantly whether or not they had destroyed anything and or anyone. The flamethrower let out an annoyed grunt before guzzling down the remains of his drink. Leave it to their Commander to ruin their R ‘n R.

“Heh. Training using drones and holograms…not ideal for sharpening our skills. You know…"

Slag turned around on his stool and flashed Grimlock a wide toothy grin.

“I’m sure there’re some drunkards and siphoners that could use some self-defense lessons."

A low chuckle escaped the Dinobot’s vocalizer as he turned to take a good look at the tiny green form of Cosmos. As quickly as his chuckle passed over his lips it stopped. The stammering of the mech only continued to annoy the flamethrower.

“You leak any transmission fluid on any part of me and I’ll be sure no one ever finds you…in one piece."

Slag sent a growl toward the minibot just as he got off his stool. He then regarded Grimlock with a deep sneer and made his way to stand beside the Dinobot Commander. Shortly thereafter Cosmos hopped off his seat ready to take the group to a large training facility where they would have plenty of room. With a snort Slag leaned in close to Grimlock so he could address only the t-rex.

“This better be almost over. I’m itchin’ to do some real damage to some real opponents."

Med Bay

Skyfall left…thank the Allspark. Now it’s just Pharma I have to deal with…once he decides to emerge from his sanctuary. Ambulon had always known that joining the Autobots would be a challenge but for the most part he hadn’t had any problem…that is until he was stationed here with Pharma. The CMO at the shipyards hated ‘Cons…hated ‘Cons no matter what faction they belonged to now. Once a Decepticon always a Decepticon.

Ambulon took a quick look over his shoulder at the door of the flier’s office. If things were ever going to get better he’d have to be the one to make the first move. With a determined look on his face the badly painted medic slammed the laser welder back down on the tray and turned on his heel.

The medic stalked through the med bay and stopped once he came to the door to Pharma’s office. He paused for a moment to gather his wits and then extended his hand to activate the communications device, but just as his actuator touched the pad the door suddenly slid open revealing the predominately white flier…a deep set scowl on his faceplate.

“Oh! Pharma, I was just coming to see you. Do you have a moment?"

The CMO regarded his subordinate for a moment without so much as a huff and then pushed past him. He didn’t make it far when he paused and looked over his shoulder.

“And just what do you want, Ambulon? I’ve got work to do, as do you I would assume."

The former Decepticon let out a sigh as he dropped both hands to his sides. Why must he be so difficult? Haven’t I paid my dues? I’ve saved so many Autobots…doesn’t that account for anything?

Ambulon cleared his head and approached his superior with measures steps.

“Look, Pharma, I know you can’t stand Decepticons…can’t stand me…but I believe I’ve done my fair share of work to prove that…that I’m not who I was ten years ago. I want you to understand something…I left because of what the Decepticons did to me…what they did to others... and I have no intention of going back. Why won’t you accept that?"

The room fell silent as Ambulon crossed his arms over his chest and glared up at the slightly taller Pharma. Things needed to come out in the open. For several moments the two medical officers just stared at one another until the white mech finally turned around completely to face his lesser.

With one imposing movement by the CMO, Ambulon took a slight step back unsure of just what to expect.

“I defended you today. I told Skyfall that you were...that you were an admirable medic."

The sudden look of disbelief worked over the former ‘Con’s visage causing him to relax his stature and lower his optics. Never in all the time they had been stationed together did Pharma do anything more than try to degrade and demean him.

“You…you did? But why? You’ve never said…why would you do that?"

That same scowl etched deep onto the flier’s face remained as he slowly made his way to stand in front of the smaller mech…his optics focused on the badly painted mech’s They both remained stationary as they regarded each other.

“Because…it’s true."

Ambulon closed his mouth and flashed Pharma a quizzical look while the CMO pushed past his subordinate. So he does value me…

Motto:"I can totally prove that I'm not a zombie! Just lean over hear, and let me take a little nibble out of your brains."

Weapon: Double Barrelled Shell Launcher

Corridors

Highcall felt relief that Warhaul was willing to listen, even if it was just until the technician reached his next assignment. It was somewhat difficult for the smaller engineer to keep pace with Warhaul's longer strides, but he was determined to make amends.

This may not be the most convenient time, but it's better to do it now than miss the chance later. Just remember what Kick-Off said, and don't try to push Primus onto him. It's his decision not to believe, and I must respect that.

"Warhaul[, " he addressed the taller technician as he endeavored to keep up, "I've come to realize that I've been forcing the word of Primus onto other mechs when I shouldn't, and that includes you. I've come to apologize for my earlier behavour, it wasn't my place to try to force my own morals onto you, and it was inexcusable for me to take away your drink and destroy it."

As he tried to keep up, Highcall stumbled upon a small crowd of mechs that blocked his way. With effort he managed to squeeze through them, but had to run to catch back up with Warhaul.

"I know now's probably not the best time since you're heading for your next shift, but I'm hoping I can somehow make this all up to you. I'd be more than willing to buy you a round of drinks the next time you're at the bar. Or maybe there's something else I can do to help? If there's anything I can do to earn your forgiveness, than by the Holy Light of Primus I will do it."

Unable to keep up to him much longer, Highcall had little choice but to walk right behind the taller technician. As he followed behind the engineer put his hands together and looked up to the ceiling.

I hope this is the path you wish me to take, Primus. If finding absolution with others is what it takes to earn your guidance and wisdom again, then I shall follow this path wherever it may take me.

Sideburn hopped over the bar and gave Cosmos a pat on the shoulder. “Thank you kindly friend. I owe ya for that little tidbit of information. Rest assured that I will show those femmes the finer points of marksmanship and a good time will be had by all." The blue Autobot flashed him a smile as he made for the door.

He offered a polite nod to Grimlock and the other Dinobots. They were all too involved in their discussion to notice him, which suited him fine. The chance to chat up some femmes was the change of pace he needed after dealing with Dinos for so long. Still, he’d have to keep an optic open for them. He could use a good adventure, and he was pretty sure one was bound to follow the big bruisers wherever they went.

*

Grimlock wasn’t too surprised at the reactions from the Dinobots. He had chosen his words to spur them on and it seemed to largely succeed. At the very least it got them on their feet and revving to do something. He wasn’t entirely lying when he was afraid they had gotten lazy. They hadn’t seen any action on Earth and the skirmish with the Predacons on Cybertron hadn’t been satisfying at all. At the very least doing some training would keep them sharp and work out that excess energon in their systems.

Of course a training room would be the perfect place to have an impromptu meeting and discussion about their plan, particularly this larger scale one Cosmos was describing. In a place like this it would have to be heavily armored, shielded and probably noise dampened so as not to bother anyone else on the station. That would be more then enough to avoid being overheard. From the reactions they had all gotten on board the station he also seriously doubted anyone would be joining them, and certainly no one would be suspicious of them using the facility.

“Sound good Cosmos. Lead way to bigger training room. Dinobots need lots of room to fight and smash things." He gestured for the minibot to lead the way.

The Dinobot commander heard Slag’s whispered words for him. He grunted in reply. “If you can’t hold it in, you can spar with me. No one else around here give you much of a challenge. Me promise to go easy on you so maybe you have chance to win." With Grimlocks less then expressive face it was hard to tell if he was joking or not. He quickly turned and followed Cosmos.

Warhaul trudged onward, paying little attention to how much difficulty the other mech was having in terms of keeping pace with him.

He walked and listened to Highcall's words, trying his best to process them. Apologies were so rare in the life that Warhaul came from that they were effectively non-existent. An apology usually consisted of one Decepticon trying to salvage some shred of his station--or his life--in the face of a beatdown by another. There was never any actual sincerity behind it. But that was probably what was throwing the technician off. The sincerity. This mech actually meant what he was saying.

That was strange.

Since coming in to deep cover on this station, it was something that Warhaul had attempted to become adjusted to. It was something he had been trained for. But, even now, actual sincerity--with no threats or malice behind them--was still something that he had not quite accepted.

"Yeah?" Warhaul mumbled, some degree of confusion even slipping in to his tone unintentionally. "Yeah, well, s'alright. I just ain't never had much use for Primus or those other batch-proto myths. Never did me any good in this life."

How could it? All Warhaul had known was war and strife, hence his being referred to as one of the many "warborn" generation of Cybertronians. He had long ago accepted it as his reality in life and did his best to carry out his dual-function on Megatron's behalf.

Warhaul listened as Highcall offered to make it up to him. For a moment, he couldn't actually believe his luck. An actual, unwilling mark that could be made to help him achieve his ends with a little creative deception. Once he was able to complete his sabotage mission and file the report to Soundwave and Shockwave, he expected they would be impressed with this little tidbit, provided he could carry it out just right.

But of all the mechanoids on this station, why did it have to be this one? And why did he care? Not even a quarter-orn ago, he would have been all too happy to smash this mech's face-plating. He couldn't do it now, though. Forget badges. It was that Primus-forsaken sincerity again. A genuine, decent Cybertronian. Most Decepticons in the intelligence or counter-intelligence ranks would take an opportunity like this and run with it. That was what his own upbringing was telling him to do. And yet part of him didn't want to. Unfortunately, that was also the part of him that would have to answer to Megatron if he failed.

"Yeah, alright. Maybe I can find some use for you. You any good with a turbo-ratchet set? Maybe I can get my full amount of work done in half the time today."

Motto:"I can totally prove that I'm not a zombie! Just lean over hear, and let me take a little nibble out of your brains."

Weapon: Double Barrelled Shell Launcher

OOC: With Dev's Permission, moving all the Dinobots to the training facility.

Corridors-Turbolift-Large Scale Training Facility

Cosmos jumped when he felt a hand touch his shoulder, afraid that Slag would make good on all his threats. Thankfully it was just Side Burn, thanking him for the information about the two femmes, and he breathed a sigh of relief. The green minibot still made a point, though, to stay as far away as possible from the flamethrower.

Mental note; Don't talk to Slag unless you absolutely have to, and even then it might be smarter to have someone else say it.

Aside from one or two technicians overreacting to the team of massive warriors, the walk to the training facility was thankfully uneventful as Cosmos had finally learned to keep his talking to a minimum with the Dinobots. They walked down the corridors to the turbolifts, as one turbolift didn't have nearly enough room for all 5 Dinobots they had to momentarily seperate. Up two decks Cosmos and the Dinobots went, and they went out to a much quieter and emptier floor. It was much different from the busy sections below as there was almost no traffic. On one side of the hallway the wall was completely bare, except for a massive doorway that had been intended for a large number of mechs.

"Here it is.", Cosmos directed the Dinobots to the door, "It takes up half this floor, and it's the biggest, most intricate, state of the art training room in the sector."

Cosmos immediately went to the control panel next to the door, pressing a few buttons to check the status of the room. He sighed in relief, no one was in there and the room hadn't been reserved by anyone for several mega-cycles. It was free for the Dinobots to use, and hopefully blow off whatever steam they had left.

"The controls are the same as any other training facility, just on a larger scale.", he explained to Grimlock as the massive sliding doors opened, revealing a dark room with a lighted grid pattern.

"Oooooh", Sludge said in awe as he already walked inside.

Cosmos began to fidget a little. He wanted to be helpful and polite, but the last thing he wanted was to be too close to such powerful, volatile Autobots during combat simulations.

"So if you'd like.....", Cosmos said in a hesitant tone, "I can help you with the controls or..... maybe...... even assist your..... uh, training if you need me too...... But if you don't have any problems, I can just leave until you're done."

Cosmos greatly hoped that the Dinobots would be fine on their own.

Corridors

Highcall's optics brightened as Warhaul seemed to accept his apology, giving a silent thanks to Primus. His atonement was getting off to a good start, and he was determined to get back into the good graces of the mechs he had offended, as well as his god.

"Yes, I know how to use a turbo-ratchet set, I am an engineer after all.", Highcall replied enthusiastically, "I will gladly relieve you of some of your duties, if that's what you want. I don't have any assignments for a while, so I should have plenty of time to help you out."

For a moment Highcall considered explaining why he didn't have any shifts coming up, because he had gotten on just about every chief engineer's bad side by being a distraction to himself and others through reciting scripture during work. As Kick-Off had mentioned earlier, that was something else he would have to stop.

Grimlock was rather impressed at that facility, although he would never admit to it. First of all, all of the Dinobots were able to fit comfortably through the door. It was a nice change of pace from the ducking, stooping and turning they had to do to get through some other doorways on the station. Inside the room was even more impressive. It was massive, with thick steel walls that could certainly take a beating. The room was bare at the moment, but the number of panels and sliding doors on the walls indicated that a number of weapons and opponents could be called up to do battle with. A couple of stories up was an observation deck, protected by special transparent metals. Superiors and trainers could watch the battle unfold from up there and likely call down different attackers and strategies for the troops to face.

The Dinobot leader could feel the slightest surge of excitement. It would feel good to do some fighting, even if it was against drones. All of this talking just wasn’t his style. He needed to blow off some steam just as much as the other Dinobots did. They would all need to be loose and calm, or calmer in some cases, for the next step in his plans. Stealing the Trion was going to be one of the trickiest and boldest plans even he had ever undertaken. They all needed to be at their best for it.

Grimlock looked down at Cosmos as he briefly explained the controls. He was used to this treatment. The Dinobots had a reputation as not being the brightest Autobots around. While it was true that none of them would have qualified for any of the old science academies before the war (particularly Sludge) they were still fairly capable. Grimlock’s speech impediment didn’t particularly help dispel this notion of low intelligence. It suited him well enough though, allowing others to underestimate him always worked to his advantage.

The massive Autobot reached down and began working the controls. “Me think me have it Cosmos. You can leave now, you not want to be around for Dinobot training." Grimlock promptly twisted every knob and flicked every switch to its maximum setting. Anything less then the max was liable to be disappointing to the Dinobots.

The large warrior turned to his team. “Alright Dinobots, time to work off excess energon and have some fun. Go to it and don’t hold back!" He mashed down the activation button and the room sprung to life. Panels on the floor slid open or flipped over, bringing simulated debris and terrain to use as cover. A large panel in the floor dropped away, lifting back up with a dozen spider-like drones on it that quickly dispersed through the room, firing lasers at the Dinobots. A wall panel slid open and a dozen bipedal drones jogged out, lasers mounted on their left arms and swords on their right arms. The added their fire, adding to the chaos before taking cover. Various panels on the walls slid open, revealing laser turrets, flamethrowers and missile launchers. From the ceiling aerial drones dropped down, strafing and bombing the Dinobots.

Grimlock drew his energo-sword and pointed at the thick of the enemies. "Dinobots, attack!"

The doors to the command center slid away, allowing Cloudburst entry. The Autobot offered a friendly salute in Countdown's direction before finding a seat in the chair he had occupied earlier before heading off on his little adventure. If random, observational patrols could be classified as "adventures" nowadays. It did beat the alternative, however, and Cloudburst had to remind himself of that from time to time.

"Wellll....that was....as uneventful as I'd feared it might be," Cloudburst said, grinning, as he began entering his observations in to the officers' log. "I thought if anyone in our ranks could have some more circumspect reasons for coming here, it would be the Dinobots, y'know?"

Cloudburst continued typing as he talked.

"But nope. Everything checks out. That Ark-class vessel they brought in shouldn't need a whole lot of work, either. I don't see any reason why we won't have that thing working in tip-top condition pretty quick. Then we can get those guys back out on the front lines where they belong. I'm surprised they haven't wrecked our bar by now, heh. What are they up to, anyway?"___

Approaching Trion hangar

"An engineer? Really?"

Warhaul gave Highcall a quizzical glance as he said that he was an engineer. The way he went on about Primus you woulda thunk he was some long-lost Knight of Cybertron. Or a Priest of Primus. Or, at the very least, some sort of station chaplain.

Huh, takes all kinds, I guess, the cone-headed mechanic thought as he and his new accomplice closed in on the area where work on the Trion was being done. The ship was beautiful. Warhaul almost hated the fact that he was going to have to find some way of sabotaging such a first-class warship. That was going to be a tall task in and of itself, as this station's best security had also been allocated to monitoring the ship's construction process. Even now, at the finalmost stages, oversight had not lapsed in the slightest.

"Working on that new ship. The Trion. Thing of beauty, eh?" Warhaul said, looking over at the other mech as they approached the massive hangar where the ship was being kept. Autobots had been working on this ship around the clock and that was not going to stop any time soon. Especially as it drew ever closer to its hour of completion. They could well be there already. Warhaul was not so high up on the technicians list as to be kept apprised of every last detail regarding its construction.

"Actually...you better get a clearance from Kick-Off," Warhaul said, thinking of one potential glitch in his impromptu plan. Good thing he caught that before he went ahead and did it. That could have caused him far more problems than they were worth. "Meet in at the starboard wing section when you do. And if ya don't, well, lemme know. I might have something else you can help me with. Then we'll call this whole mess even."

Warhaul smirked and showed his clearance badge to the security officers standing sentry over the primary entrance in to this hangar and proceeded to head inside.

Snarl entered the gigantic training facility and found that it was a nice change of pace from the rest of the cramped station. The corridors and rooms were clearly not designed with a Dinobot’s size in mind, but this place was a very different block of energon. “Nice," the Desert Warrior commented in a low growl as Cosmos offered to explain how to use the controls. Obviously, the misconception that the Dinobots were all over-sized brutes with very little in the way of intelligence had reached even out here at the shipyards. It was a bit of an insult that had been unintentional on the minibot’s part, which was the only reason the saucer-bot was still functioning.

That and the fact Grimlock had intervened, taking over the controls before telling Cosmos to leave immediately. Thank Primus, Snarl thought as the Dinobot Commander initiated a high-level training program that would suit the sheer intensity that five large mechs like themselves could bring. Anything less would be a waste of their time and energon. The solar-powered Dinobot couldn’t wait to start fighting as it had been far too long since he had last seen any action, real or simulated.

Once the settings were entered into the control panel, Grimlock turned and explained the scenario that began to unfold within the vast chamber behind him. A smile spread wide across Snarl’s faceplate, a sight seldom seen on the plated Dinobot. Happiness began to return and the boredom he had felt only a breem ago was all but gone from his processor. The Desert Warrior said nothing in response to his leader’s words and only drew out his energo sword in one hand and his laser rifle in the other. “Time for some fun."

Snarl did not wait for Grimlock’s command to attack, lunging forward into the thick of things as drones of all shapes and sizes began their assault. The training level was clearly set at maximum which was simply perfect. Here there would be no weak hits on either side, only real damage as though their very sparks depended on them being better than their adversaries. At least with a level of this magnitude, Snarl could pretend that these were real Decepticons and not just simple drones that were programmed to simulate the enemy.

Running across the faux battlefield, Snarl sought no cover whatsoever and instead charged at the first bipedal drone he encountered. With a single swipe of his sword, the drone was sliced in half, falling to the ground in a spark-filled heap. Several laser blasts struck the Desert Warrior’s thick armor from numerous directions, but those blasts did little to slow him down as a spider drone suddenly leapt at him from behind a pile of debris. The tendrils quickly wrapped themselves around Snarl in an attempt to strangle him. “Aaaahhhh!!!!" The plated mech shouted as he blasted the center optic of the drone with his rifle before slashing at the various limbs with his sword. One by one the extremities fell away into a trail of scrap as Snarl viciously impaled what was left of the mechanical spider to a nearby wall.

“Me not that kind of mech," Snarl growled as the spider drone fell limp. The Desert Warrior then felt an explosion behind him as a missile donated several feet from his position. Snarl was propelled through the air until his struck the same wall he had just impaled the drone to. Coming to rest on the ground, the solar-powered Dinobot rubbed his cranium for a moment before getting right back up to his feet. His back was a bit charred but it was nothing that would stop him, not by a long shot. “Now, that more like it! Aaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!"

An enraged Snarl charged across the battlefield, slashing at drone after drone on his way towards the source of the rocket. The wall mounted launcher was on the opposite side of the training room, but the Desert Warrior simply made a path of destruction that led him to his intended target. Ducking down to avoid another missile, Snarl quickly transformed into his stegosaurus alt mode and with one swipe of his powerful tail, smashed the automated launcher into oblivion. “That for trying to blow me up! Ha!"

More laser fire then erupted from overhead, as several aerial drones took aim at the Desert Warrior. “Grrrrrrrrr, Swoop, take care of those flying things will ya! That your territory, not mine!" Snarl took aim with his tail spikes, firing several shots at the aerial drones, knocking one out of the air but missing several others. The Dinobot’s attention was then drawn back to the ground-based drones as they continued their assault. More blasts struck his armor, forcing Snarl to take a step back as the intensity increased. A deep intake of air filled his systems as the solar-powered mech returned to robot mode, raising his sword and charging at the simulated enemy. He quickly immersed himself even further into the heat of battle where sheer joy and happiness overwhelmed his circuits.

Motto:"I can totally prove that I'm not a zombie! Just lean over hear, and let me take a little nibble out of your brains."

Weapon: Double Barrelled Shell Launcher

Approaching Trion Hangar

Highcall couldn't help but smirk and shake his head at Warhaul's surprised reaction toward his status as an engineer. While it was true that there were those who followed the Covenant of Primus that believed the use of technology was wrong, his group had not been one of them. Those that did were often the more xenophobic, radical groups, who had long since vanished due to their inability to maintain their own bodies.

"Primus guides us with his wisdom,", he replied, "but we still have to keep the power generators running on our own. That's not scripture, by the way, just something we had to remind ourselves whenever something broke."

As they continued, Highcall listened to the technician reveal his current assignment- the new, state-of-the-art warship, the Trion.

So that's the ship everyone has been clammoring about., he thought as he got his first look at the Trion. Since he had been an annoyance to most of those in authority position, he had never been assigned to work on the new warship, though he'd heard plenty about it from the various mechs working on it. From what he had heard and what he saw now, he could certainly appreciate all the advancements in technology and engineering that had been involved.

"Yes, I suppose it is.", Highcall replied with restraint. It was impressive, the engineer would agree to that, but he wouldn't exactly call it a 'thing of beauty'. It just felt inappropriate to refer to any mech-made product of the never ending war effort with such reverance.

As the two approached the main entrance, Warhaul brought up the problem of Highcall having proper security clearance. The engineer had to nod in agreement, he'd never been assigned to the warship, nor did he hold a high enough rank to enter without assignment. It would be awkward going back to Kick-Off after he had left the security mech's custody only a breem ago, but if it had to be done, it had to be done.

"All right, that shouldn't be a problem.", Highcall assured Warhaul, "I'll be sure to contact you as soon as I can."

With that, Highcall turned around and headed back to station security.

Large Scale Training Facility

Cosmos breathed a sigh of relief as Grimlock allowed the green minibot to leave. Cosmos had always tried to be as friendly and hospitable as he could to all Autobots who came to Alpha Shipywards. And not just because it was often his assignment, but because he genuinely liked meeting new mechs and making new friends. It helped make all his time in space, the cold, empty, lonely vacuum of space, a little more bearable. But the Dinobots? Despite being on the same side of the war, Cosmos had to admit he worried for his safety when he was around the five brutal warriors.

Cosmos walked back out and back to the turbolift. Until Grimlock needed anything, or unless Countdown had another assignment for him, the green minibot was going back to the energon bar. There was always at least one of his friends to hang out with, and Cosmos could still use some energon. The last thing he wanted was to be sent out in space without a full tank of energon.

--------------------

For the first time in a while, Sludge didn't feel constricted. Being the largest of the Dinobots, not to mention the clumsiest, he had an even harder time than the others just getting around and trying to fit into things that were made with smaller mechs in mind. Not in here, though.

"Me Sludge like big room.", the jungle warrior said as he stretched out his arms and legs, if only because he could do it without accidentally bumping into something or hitting someone, "Me Sludge wish every room was this big."

Just as Sludge was getting used to all the open space, Grimlock addressed the team. Even if Grimlock wasn't the strongest- which he was- Sludge would have been happy with the chance to have some fun by smashing things. Though, Sludge had to admit, his commander's last few words made him wonder.

"Um, do we ever hold back?", the jungle warrior scratched his head, asking an honest question as opposed to making some tough-bot remark.

Sludge didn't get an answer, as he watched in awe as the room was brought to life. A smile came across his faceplate as he saw dozens upon dozens of drones, each one looking very smashable to the jungle warrior's optics. Withdrawing his energon sword, Sludge marched right toward one of the groups of drones as he soon found himself bathed in laser fire.

Once within arm's length Sludge made a wide swipe with his energon sword, beheading several drones in front of him, but just missing one that had managed to duck in time. Sludge rewarded that clever drone with a hard kick to the midsection that broke it in half and sent it into several drones behind it, causing those drones to topple backwards by the force. Chuckling at the sight, Sludge decided he wanted to play "Kick the Drone", kicking any and all drones that had fallen with his powerful legs. Some drones smashed into pieces on contact, while some flew into other nearby drones, causing them to fall down and become victims to the jungle warrior's game. Twice he tried to slice the drones he kicked in mid-air with his sword, though he wasn't nearly quick enough to hit either and simply sliced into a few other drones unfortunate enough to be nearby by.

Sludge's train of thought was interrupted as he felt something hard hit him from behind. Not hard enough to cause any real damage, but enough to grab his attention. A second time he felt it, the force jolting him forward, and he decided to turn around to see what it was, ignoring the growing number of spider drones that were surrounding him.

On a nearby wall Sludge saw a missile launcher that had locked onto him.

"Hmmmm....", Sludge said thoughtfully as he holstered his energon sword and withdrew his laser rifle, "Me Sludge could use target practice."

As the number of drones surrounding him grew even more, Sludge took careful aim at the launcher as it readied another missile, occasionally having to kick one or two drones that got too close. He fired several shots, none of which came anywhere near the missile launcher, but did manage to hit a couple of aerial drones by accident. Shot after shot Sludge fired and missed the launcher, until he finally gave up.

"Rrrrgh, stupid gun not work for Sludge!", the jungle warrior complained, smashing it into a spider drone in front of him out of frustration.

By then another missile had fired and hit Sludge in the chest, forcing the jungle warrior back a few feet. It was then that Sludge looked around and realized that he was completely surrounded and greatly outnumbered by the drones. After a moment of thought, Sludge smiled.

As the drones closed in, the jungle warrior transformed into his dinosaur mode, now forcing the drones to face a massive, mechanical apatasaurus. Sludge lifted up his front-right leg as high as he could, holding it for a moment to chuckle at the soon-to-come destruction. Then with his powerful servos and hydrolics, combined with his sheer size and weight, he slammed his foot down to the floor. A thunderous boom filled the room, the entire floor shaking by the jungle warrior's force. All the drones that had surrounded Sludge stumbled and fell from Dinobot-made quake. Sludge then took the time to take a nice "walk", where he stomped and tromped onto the fallen drones, crushing their metal bodies with each step. After nearly a breem of it, Sludge stopped for a moment to admire the destruction he had caused, but it was only for a moment as he felt another missle slam into his thick metal hide. Looking over at the launcher annoyed, Sludge turned and trudged it, trampling over any drones unfortunate enough to get in his way.

Security Office

Highcall entered the room without hesitation since he wasn't in any trouble this time, though he still felt awkward seeing Kick-Off again so soon. He couldn't feel too bad, though. If he wanted to make peace with Warhaul than he needed to help the technician with his work on the Trion, and to do that he needed security clearance.

Well, besides that incident in the Energon Bar earlier, I don't have any major offenses against me, so I don't see why I can't get clearance. I'm sure Kick-Off will understand, it's part of my personal atonement.

After explaining himself to one of the deputies, the engineer was allowed to enter the security chief's office. Highcall started to feel even more awkward, as it appeared as if the security mech was in the exact same position as when he had left just a couple of breems ago.

"Hello, Kick-Off.", Highcall addressed the security, "I'm terribly sorry if I'm disturbing your work, but I needed to see you. I've spoken to Warhaul, which went well by the way, and as part of my apology to him I've agreed to help him with his work on the Trion. But before I can do that I need security clearance since I've never been assigned to the Trion before. I understand if you have your doubts or if my earlier offense makes me ineligible, but I would truly appreciate this, if only to atone for my earlier mistake."

Highcall rubbed the back of his head for a moment, unsure how the security mech would react to his request.